Lk 11:29-32 Hardwork and Holiness

Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

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While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah...At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here."

I am going to be very honest with you right now.  Sometimes, I do not feel like going to Church.  Really!  And sometimes I do not feel like celebrating Mass.  That's right!  But when I look back at it all, I am glad I was forced to.

Should I continue?  Okay, sometimes I do not feel like hearing confessions.  It's true!  It's all true!  But when I look back at it, I am glad that duty called and people asked. 

When did it all start?  Oh, I don't know.  Some time ago, I guess.  

Why?  Why does this happen to me?   I think it is because I can get very lazy with the things I can do so easily.  This is part of my problem, and it has been my problem with so many other things, like piano.  

Yep!  When I first started taking piano lessons, I practiced every day for hours.  When I got very good at it, I started practicing less and less.  Finally, I did not want to do it anymore.  I got bored with it.

Why?  Again, I got pretty good at it.  I got used to it, and I could get by with what I had, especially at parties.  But there was another reason, a deeper reason why I gave up.  I reached my inner goal. I did not have a real interest in taking my piano and going all the way with it; that is, in being a concert pianist.

Am I not like this in my spiritual journey as well?  Do I settle for good, rather than holy?  Do I settle for communion, rather than confession?

I got pretty good at it.  I got used to it, and I could get by with what I had, especially at parties. 

Recently, a mom told me that her kids (young teenagers) do not want to go to Church anymore.  Apparently, they think they are strong enough to wrestle with the world. 

"Should I make them go?", she asked.  I was blunt.  I told her:  "Absolutely!  They need to go to Church and you need to remind them of why they need to go to Church:  to keep their conscience healthy; their decisions healthy; to keep a tight grip on temptation; to fight selfishness; to forgive and show compassion; to be holy and generous.  If they are tired of going to Church then it is because they are no longer striving for greater holiness and are tired of fighting the good fight."

She may or may not agree with me.  But so many parents find religion useful only when they are losing their children, or when things are going bad or not well at all.  

All kids have lofty ideas, but very few of them have the strength and discipline to realize them.  As one highly successful businessman recently said, "We all have great ideas.  But great ideas are worth nothing if they are never developed."

Christ did not come into the world so that we could be good.  He came into the world so that we could be saved.  He did not establish His Church on earth to produce great thinkers, buildings and works of art.  He established His Church to produce great Saints. 

As Catholics, we are not called to be nice, tolerant and helpful.  We are primarily called to be Alter Christus. 

I gotta go all the way with it.  I can drop the piano anytime, but I can never drop the Cross.  I gotta take it with me wherever I go. 

What has happened to you? Has the Good News become Old News?  If so, then you've become old and boring! 

If love does not mature, then it becomes old and stale.  The People of Nineveh and the queen of the South were looking for something new.  Their lives had become boring.  Can you believe that?  They were rich, famous and bored!!!

It's time to make things new again.  How?  Go deep.  And keep going deeper.  Allow God to challenge you.  Allow the Church, Mass and Confession to be your worthy "opponent." Wrestle with it.  Pin it down.  Make it your daily bread.  Challenge yourself and grow. 

Carry your Cross.  Straight to Heaven.